


In A Faerie Tale

by Jasons_bamboozlement



Series: Yuri on Ice 30 Day Prompt Challenge (Mizu) [13]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Developing Relationship, Fae & Fairies, Fairy!Victor, Gen, Human!Yuuri, I think?, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prince Victor Nikiforov, Protective Yuri Plisetsky, Slow Burn, grumpy yuri plisetsky
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:14:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25890418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jasons_bamboozlement/pseuds/Jasons_bamboozlement
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Victor Nikiforov & Yuri Plisetsky
Series: Yuri on Ice 30 Day Prompt Challenge (Mizu) [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1853218
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	1. Meetings

Katsuki Yuuri was, by all accounts, an exceptionally ordinary human. He led an exceptionally ordinary life helping out at his family’s exceptionally ordinary inn. Of course, in this time and village, that was about all anyone could ask or wish for. He was fed, had a roof over his head, and a family to care for him. He should be content.

Which is why it was odd that he found himself down by the stream one evening full of melancholy. He could not explain it. He often came to sit by the edge of the stream. The soothing babble of the water calmed him, and he spent many evenings watching the water, prodding the stream bed with a broken-off reed.

But today, not even the stream could bring him comfort. An ache in his chest had started to develop. He couldn’t say when, exactly, but it felt like he was missing something, as if there was more he could be.

Logically, he knew it made no sense, but it didn’t stop the hollow feeling in his chest. As he sat watching the stream travel to places he’d never seen, he finally let the tears in his eyes brim over. Watching them hit the river and be swept away, he thought, _Maybe that little part of me can be swept off to new places. Maybe that will be enough._

“Yuuri!” his mother yelled from the inn.

He quickly cleared the tears from his face and picked himself off the banks of the river. Dusting the dirt off his trousers, he took one last look into the flowing water and was startled to find two eyes looking back at him.

They were blue and – dare he say – beautiful. Looking up, Yuuri searched for the owner of the eyes, but found nothing. He looked back into the flowing water – nothing. Perhaps it had just been a trick of the light. Dusk was falling, and his eyes were still watery with tears. Perhaps he had imagined the sight. Perhaps.

\----

Victor Nikiforov was not an ordinary being, even by faerie standards. He was the son of the king and queen of the faeries, not that they ever took much time from ruling to check on him. Growing up, he had noticed his magic was different from the rest of his people’s. It seemed more powerful; he could do things that others couldn’t. He could surprise them, and Victor liked surprising people.

But after some time, even that had grown dull. Fae lives were long, and Victor was easily bored. It was this boredom that had first led Victor to seek out the humans. Despite his parents’ _explicit_ decree that only faeries trained in trickery could interact with humans – and even then only for the purpose of gaining something the colony needed – Victor sought them out.

At first, it was small things – just testing, poking at the boundaries. The snapping of a twig, the falling of a leaf – small things to make the humans look up and searching for something that wasn’t there. When that fun had worn off, he moved on to bigger things – lifting a root to make an unsuspecting human trip, or shaking loose a few nuts so they dropped on a human’s head.

Then one day, he had felt particularly bold. He had shown himself to a human traveling through the woods. Not all of himself, just a glimpse of his long, silvery hair. No doubt thinking him a strange animal, the human had followed. Victor had had a _merry_ time leading the poor human on a chase through the woods only to lead him right back to his starting point.

From there, Victor only got bolder, perfecting his tricks. There were so many more ways to surprise humans, it should provide him years of entertainment.

Which is why Victor found himself called to the riverbank one evening by a human’s tears. Humans did not realize this, but tears have powerful properties, and most magical creatures are called to them for one reason or another. Victor was fortunate enough to be the sole magical creature around that evening, and therefore had the human all to himself.

Enchanting himself with invisibility, he walked noiselessly toward the riverbank. At first, Victor had planned nothing special. He had a new trick about splashing water he supposed he could try out here, but when he went to sit on the opposite bank, he paused.

This human, while not outwardly different from the others, seemed…unique. Victor couldn’t stop himself from wanting to watch this human – follow his every move, twitch, and gasp. There was something in the way his brown eyes watched his tears, followed them as they sunk into the river, that enraptured Victor. Then all too soon, someone was calling a name.

“Yuuri!”

His human looked up and began wiping his eyes. Victor knew he was about to miss his chance. Quickly, he bewitched himself so only his eyes would appear as a waiting reflection in the river. Breath bated, he waited for the human to notice.

_Please, please look_ , Victor thought silently. Never had he wanted a human to notice his tricks more than this one here and now.

Just as he was beginning to lose hope, he heard a gasp and he knew the human had seen. Brown eyes looked up to search for him. Victor’s excitement was so intense that he nearly lost control of his illusion.

The warm eyes dropped back down to the river where Victor knew they would see nothing. Confusion clouded them as the human shook his head. With one final glance at the river and its banks, the human walked back toward the house.

_Yuuri…_ Victor thought, and his heart thrummed in approval.


	2. Blink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did Yuuri just imagine what he'd seen by the riverbank? Or was it something more and will he have the chance to learn more? Let's find out!

Yuuri’s next few days were ordinary, just like they always were. Travelers came to the inn, Yuuri served them food and drink, they left, and Yuuri cleaned. But something had changed. Yuuri’s mind would not – could not – let go of the beautiful eyes he had seen in the river.

So each night, when the tavern raucous had calmed, Yuuri snuck out to the same spot on the river, hoping beyond hope to see them again.

\---

Victor could not stop himself from returning to the riverbank the next day, or the day after that, or the day after that. And he especially couldn’t stop the rush of elation he felt when he saw the human, Yuuri, sitting on the bank as well. Victor sat to watch his human. Yuuri’s eyes darted longingly from the river to the bank, as though searching for something. He sat for quite a while each day until the set or he was called away. And each time, he would stand, a dejected look on his face, as if he hadn’t found what he was searching for.

Each night was the same – Yuuri sat with a look of determination and left with a look of defeat. And each night, Victor sat mesmerized by him.

Weeks went by, and Victor longed to see other expressions on Yuuri’s face. Which is why that evening, he let down part of his cloaking enchantment to reveal his eyes once more.

\---

 _Perhaps it really had been a trick of the light_ , Yuuri thought as he spent another evening by the river. Perhaps it was time to give this up and accept his very ordinary life.

With a sigh, he prepared to stand up. Then something caught his eye. _A shimmer in the water? Could it be…?_ His heart pounded as he leaned in closer. _Was it - ? Yes!_

Two beautiful, clear, blue eyes looked back at him from the river. Slowly, Yuuri reached into the water to touch them. But that rewarded him with nothing. The eyes did not move; all he had done was disrupt the reflection. He hesitantly took his eyes off the vision and, looking up, searched fruitlessly for the genesis of the reflection. His eyes returned to the water, and, to his delight, the blue orbs were still there.

“Who are you?” Yuuri whispered.

The eyes just blinked at him.

“Are you a ghost?”

The eyes stared.

“Can you talk?” Yuuri felt more and more foolish as he went on. There had to be a way to communicate. He thought for a moment.

“What about a system? Two blinks for no, one blink for yes? Do you understand?”

_Blink._

Yuuri’s heart leapt.

“Right then, are you a ghost?”

_Blink. Blink._

_Thank goodness,_ Yuuri thought. “Am I imagining you?”

_Blink. Blink._

Yuuri exhaled a sigh of relief. _Thank goodnesss again._ “Do you have a name?”

_Blink._

“Could I guess it?”

_Blink…Blink._

“Hmm…so maybe if I’m _really_ good? What about Tom?”

_Blink. Blink._

“Elizabeth?”

_Blink. Blink._

“Christopher Anton the Third?”

_Blink. Blink._

_Blink. Blink._

_Blink. Blink._

Yuuri laughed. “Okay, what if I just call you River for now?”

_Blink._

He couldn't believe this was real. His mind whirled with questions he wanted to ask. So many things he wanted to know, but they would have to wait, at least until he could ask more than 'yes' and 'no' questions. That made Yuuri think...

“Is there more to you than just eyes?”

_Blink._

“Can I see?” Yuuri asked eagerly.

_Blink…Blink._

“Huh…okay. Maybe someday?”

_Blink._

Yuuri’s heart did a little _tha-thump_. “Why did you pick me?” Yuuri wondered out loud. 

The eyes remained unblinking.

“I guess that’s hard to answer with just ‘yes’ and ‘no’, hmm?”

_Blink._

“If I come back tomorrow, will you be here?” Yuuri held his breath.

_Blink._

A smile broke over his face. All the fruitless nights he had spent on the riverbank had been worth it for this. “Good. Then I’ll return tomorrow.”

He had so many more things to ask, but a call from his mother put a stop to them. Reluctantly, he stood up took one last look at the eyes. “Goodnight,” he called as he ran back to the inn.

\-----

Victor spent his next several nights sitting at the edge of the river playing this strange game of “yes” and “no”. It delighted him. The questions Yuuri thought to ask made him giggle. He loved watching the human’s face light up with each answer.

But even then, he knew it would not be enough. Victor knew he would want to reveal himself fully to the entrancing human. Yes, he had made up his mind. The next night he would show himself.

“I know what you’re up to.”

Victor did not have to look up. He recognized the sharp, angry voice immediately.

“And what is that, Yurio?”

Victor sashayed down the forest path that led to the fae village.

“I know you’ve been going outside the boundaries.”

Victor froze for a moment; he thought he had been more careful about covering his tracks. Then he picked up, hoping to play it off. “And even if I was? What of it?”

Yurio growled. “You know only us tricksters are allowed beyond the ring.”

“So I’ve been strolling a bit. What’s the harm?”

Yurio stopped in front of Victor to glare into his face. “The harm is these humans are more clever than they were a hundred years ago. We’ve had more close calls than I care to count recently, and I don’t need to worry about your sorry rear as well.”

Victor smiled; Yurio had a strange way of showing affection, and it was easy to miss. So when it showed through, Victor tried to acknowledge it. “You can stop worrying about me, Yurio. I’m perfectly safe.”

With that, Victor patted Yurio on the head and wandered toward the village, looking forward to his meeting with Yuuri tomorrow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woosh! The start of the semester and I have hit the ground running!
> 
> Sorry for the delay on all things Yuuri! Hopefully things will smooth out and I'll be able to update this regularly and continue adding to 30 day prompt!
> 
> Hope you are all well!

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so the prompt for this one was "In a Fairy Tale" and instead of making it into the one shot it was supposed to be, my brain took off and started running with this idea. I will try to update regularly and still keep up with the 30 day challenge!
> 
> Buckle up for a ride? I've never-this is new, so let's see what happens!


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